1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a vending apparatus for facilitating movement of vendable objects along a path of travel and more particularly to an apparatus which is operable to increase the reliability of vending machines that are adapted selectively to vend products such as bottled beverages by substantially inhibiting the tendency of such containers to bridge with adjoining containers during a vending cycle.
2. Description of the Prior Art: The prior art is replete with numerous examples of vending machines, attachments and related assemblies which are operable to dispense or to assist in the dispensing of products from a vending machine. The problem of product bridging is presented in the vending of virtually all products. Bridging occurs when two or more products gravitationally contact one another in the stack in such a way that they cannot move therebeyond. This prevents any further products from being vended therefrom.
The problem of product bridging is particularly acute in the vending of glass bottles where, for example, the bottles may be of unusual shapes and sizes and/or have external ribs which contribute to bridging. In any case, such bottles typically have narrow neck portions, wide central or shoulder portions and wide base or butt portions. Such product configurations greatly aggravate the problem of product bridging.
A wide variety of vending machines and attachments therefor have been developed to vend or assist in vending bottled products. For example, bottled products are vended by so-called staggered stack type vending machines. In a staggered stack vending machine, the bottles are stored on their sides in a horizontally overlapping or offset relation relative to adjoining bottles which are disposed in both upstream and downstream relation thereto. The bottles are received within substantially vertically extending magazines or columns from which they are successively released by a dispensing apparatus or other mechanism which is disposed in gravitationally receiving relation at the bottom of the column. It is known to use ramps in such machines to direct the bottles into a single column prior to vending or to direct the bottles from one column to another for certain purposes. The ramps frequently cause product bridging in a "bridge zone" at the point of merging.
In addition, slant shelf-type vending machines have been designed whereby the bottles are stored on their sides in side-by-side laterally rollable relation upon a series of inclined shelves and from which they may successively be longitudinally withdrawn past a lockable gate which is disposed in a position closely adjacent the lower end of each shelf. Product bridging can also occur in vending machines of this type.
While it is well understood that these prior art devices each have their own advantages for particular applications and environments, they suffer, however, from a multiplicity of other drawbacks and shortcomings which have detracted from their usefulness. The problem of product bridging continues to plague the operation of such machines. In addition, manufacturers who produce such machines must manufacture assorted differently designed parts in order to assemble these individual devices with the costs attendant such design and manufacture. Further, the vending machines have individually unique maintenance and supply problems which are peculiar to the individual vending machine under consideration.
Manufacturers of vending machines have endeavored, for some period of time, to develop a vending machine which is adapted to dispense containers of assorted sizes and shapes wherein such variations in the containers to be vended can be accommodated by relatively rapid modification or conversion of the vending machine. Such a machine would thereby be operable to vend varieties of soft drink containers, whether glass bottles or metal cans, to permit vending of all styles of containers. Such prior art attempts have not been commercially successful. While the particular prior art attempts toward achieving this objective have operated with some degree of success, they also have their individual shortcomings. For example, some of these vending machines require rather time consuming modifications in order to be converted into a selected operational configuration which will permit vending of a particular size, type or style of container. In addition, they have proven particularly unreliable in operation, especially when dispensing certain types of containers such as glass bottles of the typical configurations.
Still another significant problem with the prior art devices and practices results from characteristics inherent in their individual designs. Where conversion is required with such machines, they must either be converted at the field location, or returned to the manufacturer for such conversion. Neither approach has proven satisfactory, in the first instance because of the lack of reliability in the conversion and in the second instance because of the expense attendant thereto. Furthermore, they have not generally exhibited satisfactory reliability in relatively unattended field locations. In addition, the initial cost of manufacturing and installing such devices as well as the overall maintenance cost requirements related to these devices may be substantial.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a vending apparatus which is operable to prevent product bridging and which has particular utility when used in combination with conventionally designed vending machines in the vending of bottled products, the apparatus operable substantially to increase the reliability of such vending machines while simultaneously decreasing the overall maintenance requirements of the vending machine so equipped and permitting the vending machines easily to be modified in such a fashion whereby they can be rendered operable so as reliably to vend containers of assorted styles and dimensions with the attendant benefits to be derived from such modifications.